EYESIGHT ASSOCIATES PRIVACY POLICIES
It is the policy of Eyesight Associates that all physicians
and staff preserve the integrity and the confidentiality
of protected health information (PHI) pertaining
to our patients. The purpose of this policy is to
ensure that our practice and its physicians and staff
have the necessary medical and PHI to provide the
highest quality medical care possible while protecting
the confidentialty of the PHI of our patients to
the highest degree possible. Patients should not
be afraid to provide information to our practice
and its physicians and staff for purposes of treatment,
payment and healthcare operations (TPO). To that
end, our practice and its physicians and staff will--
• Adhere to the standards set forth in the Notice
of Privacy Practices
• Collect, use and disclose PHI only in conformance
with state and federal laws. Our practice and
its physicians
and staff will not use or disclose PHI for uses
outside of practice's TPO, such as marketing, employment,
life insurance applications, etc. without an
authorization from the patient.
• Use and disclose PHI to remind patients of their
appointments unless they instruct us not to.
• Recognize that PHI collected about patients must
be accurate, timely, complete, and available
when needed.
Our practice and its physicians and staff will--
- Implement
reasonable measures to protect the integrity of all PHI maintained about
patients.
• Recognize that patients have a right to privacy.
Our practice and its physicians and staff respect
the patient's
individual dignity at all times. Our practice
and its physicians and staff will respect patient's
privacy to the extent consistent with providing the highest
quality medical care possible and with the
efficient administration of the facility.
• Act as responsible information stewards and treat
all PHI as sensitive and confidential. Consequently,
our
practice and its physicians and staff will:
- Treat all PHI data as confidential in accordance
with professional ethics, accreditation standards,
and legal requirements.
- Not disclose PHI data unless the patient
(or his or her authorized representative)
has properly
consented
to or authorized the release or law otherwise
authorizes the release.
• Recognize that, although our practice "owns" the
medical record, the patient has a right to
inspect and obtain a copy of his/her PHI. In addition,
patients have a right to request an amendment to his/her medical
record if he/she believes his/her information
is inaccurate or incomplete. Our practice and its
physicians and
staff will--
- Permit patients' access to their medical
records when their written requests are approved
by our
practice. If we deny their request, then
we must inform the patients
that they may request a review of our denial.
In such cases, we will have an on-site healthcare
professional
review the patients' appeals.
- Provide patients an opportunity to request
the correction of inaccurate or incomplete
PHI in their
medical records
in accordance with the law and professional
standards.
• All physicians and staff of our practice will maintain
a list of all disclosures of PHI for purposes
other than TPO for each patient and those made pursuant
to an authorization. We will provide this list
to patients
upon request, so long as their requests are
in writing.
• All physicians and staff of our practice will adhere
to any restrictions concerning the use or disclosure
of PHI that patients have requested and have
been aproved by our practice.
• All physicians and staff of our practice must adhere
to this policy. Our practice will not tolerate
violations of this policy. Violation of this policy is grounds
for discipliary action, up to and including,
termination of employment and criminal or professional sanctions
in accordance with our practice's personnel
rules and regulations.
• Our practice may change this privacy policy in the
future. Any changes wil be effective upon the
release of a revised privacy policy and will be made available
to patients upon request.
• The Privacy Officer will provide the front office
staff with all original forms as stated in
the Notice of
Privacy Practices.
• The front office staff will photocopy and make available
to patients the forms.
• The front office staff will respond to patient's
requests and questions concerning the forms.
In addition, the
front office staff will distribute the forms
to the patients upon their request.
• Once the patient completes a form, the front office
staff should forward the form to the Privacy
Officer for review.
• Once the patient has submitted his/her request in
writing (using the practice's form is optinal),the
front office
staff must verify that the patient's signature
matches his/her signature on file.
• The Privacy Officer must review the patient's request
and respond to the patient within 30 days from
the date of the request. The Privacy Officer can request
an additional 30-day extension as long as the
request is made to the patient in writing with the reason
for the delay clearly explained.
• The Privacy Officer should agree to all reasonable
requests. If access is denied, the Privacy
Officer must provide the patient with an exlanation for
the denial as well as a description of the patient's
review appeal.
• When the patient has requested to inspect their PHI
and his/her request has been accepted, the
Privacy Officer or othr authorized practice representative
should accompany the patient to a private area
to inspect his/her records. After the patient inspects
the record,
the Privacy Offider or other representative
wil note in the record the date and time of the inspection,,
and whether the patient made any requests for
amendments or changes to the record.
• If the patient's request to copy his/her PHI has
been accepted, the medical secretary should
copy his/her
record within 30 days and let the patient know
that a charge will apply.
• Our practice may change this privacy policy in the
future. Any changes will be effective upon
the release of a revised privacy policy and will be made available
to patients upon request.
Any patient believing that his or her privacy rights
have been violated may complain to the Privacy
Officer at Eyesight Associates (478-923-5872)
or file a complaint
directly with the Secretary for Health and Human
Services at e-mail address ocrprivacy@os.dhhs.gov or
call (202-619-0257).
Patients will not be retaliated against for filing
a complaint.
For further information about this
notice contact the Privacy Officer at Eyesight
Associates at
(478-923-5872). |
